Well politicians wont look like heroes if they make preparations to avoid or mitigate a disaster...the american voter only sees them as heroes after the disaster hits when the politicians have the government write people checks....

Well it's good to know that Mike Bloomberg poured his efforts into soda, trans-fats, stop-and-frisk, and gun laws in other states. It takes a true leader to lecture people as if they were children instead of preparing for possible catastrophes.

Name a government on the planet that plans for disasters years in advance, subby. Democracy doesn't make a government good; it just keeps out the dictator bug. Humans will always be stupid and human government will always be stupider.

gerbilpox:Hey, we do the intern-banging in DC! Better step off our turf!

It's OK, NY is a blue state so the escorts interns are female. No need for a turf war.

We've had decades of warning that we're on some of the most seismically active land on the continent (Missouri/New Madrid) but we do little to nothing to prepare for it. It's going to absolutely suck for places like St. Louis, Memphis and to a smaller extent, Nashville, Chicago, Indianapolis, and Cincinnati when the next big one hits mainly because we don't take the threat seriously.

Mrtraveler01:We've had decades of warning that we're on some of the most seismically active land on the continent (Missouri/New Madrid) but we do little to nothing to prepare for it. It's going to absolutely suck for places like St. Louis, Memphis and to a smaller extent, Nashville, Chicago, Indianapolis, and Cincinnati when the next big one hits mainly because we don't take the threat seriously.

To act like this is only an East Coast thing is foolish.

Generally, areas that are very seismically active don't have "big ones" on a regular basis. Earthquakes are sudden, violent releases of energy, and if that's constantly going on, there's not much energy to be released.

Besides, there are parts of St. Louis that could probably use a good shaking.

And watch, even after this Sandy disaster not much will be done. So the next time Lower Manhattan gets flooded again we'll be having this same discussion because few recommendation will be implemented.

FLMountainMan:Let me guess, the Left will bristle at any suggestion that some groups that tend to vote Democratic might have contributed to the devastation and will instead cherry-pick a few right wing boogeymen?

Apik0r0s: Let me guess, in an effort to piggyback Sandy on Katrina, the Right is claiming that NYC wasted their levee monies on fried chicken and watermelon.

Yep, sounds about right.

You know, it's okay to admit fault among your own constituency groups. Treating your political ideology like your religion is as bad as treating your religion like a political ideology.

dragonchild:Name a government on the planet that plans for disasters years in advance, subby. Democracy doesn't make a government good; it just keeps out the dictator bug. Humans will always be stupid and human government will always be stupider.

gerbilpox: Hey, we do the intern-banging in DC! Better step off our turf!

It's OK, NY is a blue state so the escorts interns are female. No need for a turf war.

cmb53208:Well it's good to know that Mike Bloomberg poured his efforts into soda, trans-fats, stop-and-frisk, and gun laws in other states. It takes a true leader to lecture people as if they were children instead of preparing for possible catastrophes.

At least we can agree that Wisconsin's state politics is squeaky clean and above reproach.

Gulper Eel:The Netherlands. Japan. If you think the Sendai/Fukushima situation was bad, compare it to what happened when a similar quake/tsunami hit off Indonesia eight years ago.

Even California, for all its other dysfunctions, has planned well for seismic events.

These are examples of disasters that happen with some frequency, so it is easy to convince people to set aside money for the next time it happens. Growing up in NYC, I remember exactly one hurricane hitting the city, and the damage was actually pretty minimal from it (I believe partly because it hit at low tide).

The point is, nobody had more than a theoretical reason to take hurricane threat seriously in NY because nobody had experienced the devastation a hurricane can do to the city first hand.

The same argument can apply to why there is no preparedness for a meteor impact.